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| Malacanang Palace has issued EO 10 on December 7, 2016 creating a Consultative Committee for the revision of the 1987 Constitution for a shift to a federal system |
It provides for the creation of a Consultative Committee to study the revision of the 1987 Constitution leading to the shift to a federal system of government.
EO 10 calls for a panel of not more than 25 members to study, conduct consultations, and review the provisions of the 1987 Constitution including, but not limited to, the provisions on the structure and powers of the government, local governance, and economic policies.
Members of the Committee are expected to represent the different regions and sectors of the country and will be headed by a Chairperson who will preside over its deliberations. A former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is being eyed for this post.
EO 10 also provides for the inclusion of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea in the Committee as an observer. It also states that all committee members will be appointed or designated by the President and the Secretariat will be the Presidential Management Staff based at Malacanang Palace.
We know that nominees for the Committee have already been vetted. What is causing the delay?
Because the President wants this very important body to be inclusive, he had been waiting for progress in the peace process to nominate representatives from both the Bangsamoro and National Democratic Front to this Committee. This is crucial since certain provisions in the peace agreements that might be reached may necessarily be included in the new Federal Constitution.
This has apparently stalled the convening of the Committee. The Committee has six (6) months to report to the President once it is convened, which we hope would be forthcoming very soon to meet our timeline of holding the Plebiscite simultaneous with the mid-term elections on May 2019.
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